Visualizing the Broncos: Utah State

Boise State had their first #BEATEMDOWN of the season in Logan last Saturday, and it was a beaut.

The first play of the game was Brett Rypien to AJ Richardson on a 35 yard wheel route, and it just got better from there.

You like offense? There was 41 points worth! The WR’s finally all seemed to be capable of making catches, not just Roh and Wilson.

Speaking of Jake Roh, he’s proving to be Mr. Reliable. Versus the Aggies, he had 87 yards receiving and 2 TD’s, eclipsing his old record of 75 yards. I mean, look at this ridiculousness.

That catch was almost as silly as Brett’s 35 yard, off kilter, cross body pass that still was delivered with a hell of a lot of zip.

The Broncos had a much better night on offense than they have all year. So, we know they’re improving.

What we can’t say for sure is whether we can expect that performance to keep improving. Both the R squared value up there in the corner of that graph, as well as the terrifying remainder of the schedule lets us know that. It’s pretty great to see the team who’s offense we’ve been agonizing over for six weeks get it together like its been speculated they could all along.

It’s been seeming that even though the Bronco offense isn’t as prolific as usual, it is more balanced. Comparing year over year data proved that out.

This season, without an every down, NFL ready RB, the split is 60/40. Is this because the run is more effective? Not likely. The pass game being…different…earlier in the season is the most likely cause. However, this team is closer to a Run First mentality than any we’ve seen at BSU in quite a while.

But what about the defense?

Well, can’t tell you whether this performance trend is going to continue. However, you’ll note that nobody has gotten more than 350 yards all in against the Broncos defense in the last four games. Somehow, I just don’t see these guys letting a ton of yards rack up again (Disclaimer: Air Force gonna Air Force, but to a triple option team, yards don’t always mean winning.)

Logan is a great place to notch a win, and the Broncos came out with their big guns. This is going to be required the rest of the way, but there’s a real chance right now that this team could still win the MWC. Who would’ve thought that a few weeks ago?